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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

My guest is historical fiction author, Alison McQueen. She spent twenty years in corporate advertising and now writes fascinating stories set in India. Alison's topic highlights the frustration of many writers trying to write while balancing a job and raising children. It's never easy to find time. Recently, she discovered the bliss of writing in a quiet house sans children.

The holiday season is over, the house now empty,
and I feel as though I’ve been waiting for this moment for over
20 years. Every writer out there who is also a mother, perhaps a wife too, will
understand what I’m talking about.

I always knew this day would come, although I
didn’t quite believe it. That’s the trouble with raising a family. When you’re
right in the thick of it, it feels like it will never end. And if you’re trying
to write a novel while simultaneously making the dinner and refereeing
arguments about who broke the hair straighteners and why you can’t go out
looking like that, then you have my deepest sympathy.

My daughters are now in their twenties. They
still argue, but these days it doesn’t usually involve throwing things at each
other and slamming doors so hard that the house shakes. One of them now lives
an hour away with her boyfriend, so the other one has nobody to yell at most of
the time anyway. From where I’m sitting, it’s bliss. I can actually hear myself
think.

Right now the loudest thing in the house is the
tap-tapping of my keyboard. There is a little part of me that is still in deep
shock. I keep waiting for a problem to come marching in, or for someone to
demand to know where their favourite jeans are, or why there’s no food in the
fridge.

Friends say to me, “Don’t you miss the kids?” and
“I just don’t know what I’ll do when mine grow up and leave.” And I find myself
making noises which can be interpreted either way. It seems so wrong to punch
the air and give a victory whoop. There were times in the past when I used to
get so frustrated at not being able to write that I would shut myself in the
bathroom for a cry. Those days seem far off now.

I live in a
small English village with thatched cottages, narrow country lanes and an old
parish church with a towering spire. Nearby are miles of canals, ancient
woodlands, stately homes and historic family seats, including that of the
Spencer family at Althorpe, two villages away. It’s a peaceful place, perfect
for writing.

So all I have
to do now is write the new novel. There is no excuse not to. No noise, no
distraction, no interruptions, yet I find myself staring at the page and
wondering what the next sentence is, the next word. It’s torture, and I do it
to myself every time. The draft is still at an early stage which means
that my house is awash with scraps of paper and cryptic messages that I will
have no hope of understanding when they eventually surface.

I’d like to
complain to somebody, to sit with a cup of coffee and have a good old moan
about how lonely and agonizing the business of writing can be, but there ain’t
nobody here but us chickens.

A breathtaking story of forbidden love and devastating consequences...

The moment Sophie steps onto India's burning soil, she realizes her return was inevitable. But this is not the India she fell in love with ten years before in a maharaja's palace. This is not the India that ripped her heart out as Partition tore the country in two. That India, a place of tigers, scorpions, and shimmering beauty, is long gone.

Drawing on her own family's heritage, acclaimed novelist Alison McQueen beautifully portrays the heart of a woman who must confront her past in order to fight for her future. Under the Jeweled Sky deftly explores the loss of innocence, the urgent connection in our stars, and how far we'll go to find our hearts. Excerpt

Born in the sixties to an Indian mother and an English jazz musician father, Alison McQueen grew up in London and worked in advertising for twenty years before retiring to write full time. In 2006 she was selected from an impressive longlist to join The Writers' Circle - a group of 8 top writers chosen to be groomed by the UK film industry as the new generation of British screenwriters. An award-winning blogger, she is also the author of a series of popular novels (published by Macmillan) under a pseudonym. Alison lives in a quiet English village with her husband and two daughters. Her novel, The Secret Children, was selected by The Independent for their alternative 2012 Booker list. You can find Alison: Website & Blog, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Gidget, one of my Great Danes, and Callie. Typical sight of an evening.

A funny thing
about love and devotion is those qualities are not reserved to two legged
creatures.

Observation, over the years, has taught me there is a strong bond of
love and devotion

Part of my pride of cats. Callie is in the right rear of thegroup.

between animals. I know there is a pecking order among
animals (and between people, for that matter) and that's true whether they're
cats, dogs, horses, even chickens. There are animals that tend to draw together
in groups like horses and dogs. There is a lot of affection between pack
members of dogs and in herds of horses. Cats are a bit more solitary, but even
cats are affectionate toward one another, especially when large numbers live
together. If you watch they touch and groom one another. There is a greeting
ritual—certain sounds and body language. I suspect it’s a way peace is kept between them, renewing the bonds of
belonging.

In almost every group, I've seen the buddy system. Certain
personalities are drawn together and you see love and affection develop and
when they lose that companion to death there is a true grieving period over the
loss. Certain pairings who draw close to one another and spend time with one
another. Where you see one you see the other. It's not exclusive to same
species.

Something to keep
in mind when you write about animals or if you write paranormal and you write
about animal shifters it’s important to maintain some reality in the animal
side of them and their interactions and reactions.

Callie, as a kitten, about to groom Gidget's face.

Callie still grooms Gidget. January 2014

My Dane, Gidget, is very close to one of our
cats, Callie. This affectionate bond developed shortly after they met. Gidget
was almost two when tiny Callie came to live with us as a kitten. Gidget was
fascinated with this little furball. Callie loves Gidget and while careful
because Gidget is huge and when she moves she’s a force to be reckoned
with—especially that tail of hers. It’s like a whip when she’s happy and
wagging it. I know because it’s stung my leg on occasion not to mention
knocking things off of low surfaces. While Callie is aware of Gidget when she’s
on the move, she’s never shied away from Gidget. Callie waits for Gidget to lie
down and then she comes over and talks to her and loves on her. She tends to
curl up on Gidget’s back or her shoulder. Gidget hold very still while Callie
gets comfortable and has learned not to drench her with her tongue. J They’re buddies. They’re
also my office companions. Gidget tends to stay within four feet of me wherever
I am and Callie is usually right there.

Callie as a three month old kitten.

Gidget, as a 2 month old pup. She's watchinga bird fluttering around the bird feeder.